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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 7, 2026

A Method to Quantify Visual Information Processing in Children Using Eye Tracking

A Method to Quantify Visual Information Processing in Children Using Eye Tracking

Published on: July 9, 2016

Microstructural correlates of infant functional development: example of the visual pathways.

Jessica Dubois¹, Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz, Catherine Soarès

¹Unité de Neuroimagerie Anatomique et Fonctionnelle, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique/Saclay/Division des Sciences du Vivant/Institut d'imagerie Biomédicale/Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, 91401 Orsay, France. jessica.dubois@centraliens.net

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience

|February 22, 2008

Summary

Infant brain development involves myelination, which speeds electrical conduction. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and visual evoked potentials (VEPs) reveal that DTI indices track myelination

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Last Updated: Jul 7, 2026

A Method to Quantify Visual Information Processing in Children Using Eye Tracking

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Published on: July 9, 2016

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

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Published on: May 15, 2019

An Automated Method for Assessing Visual Acuity in Infants and Toddlers Using an Eye-Tracking System

An Automated Method for Assessing Visual Acuity in Infants and Toddlers Using an Eye-Tracking System

Published on: March 17, 2023

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Developmental Neuroscience
Neuroimaging

Background:

Cognitive development in children depends on neuroanatomical maturation, including white matter myelination.
Myelination accelerates electrical conduction, but its in vivo physiological significance is not fully understood.
Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) offers quantitative indices of white matter structure.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the microstructural correlates of early brain functional development.
To combine DTI with visual event-related potentials (VEPs) in infants.
To assess the relationship between DTI measures and functional maturation in the visual pathway.

Main Methods:

Studied 15 healthy infants aged 1 to 4 months.
Utilized Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) to measure white matter microstructure.
Recorded visual event-related potentials (VEPs) to assess visual pathway function.

Main Results:

Interindividual variations in apparent conduction speed (from VEP P1 latency) correlated with infant age.
DTI indices, specifically fractional anisotropy and transverse diffusivity, in the optic radiations correlated with conduction speed.
DTI indices indicated an asynchronous myelination wave, with anterior regions maturing before posterior regions in the optic radiations.

Conclusions:

Fractional anisotropy and transverse diffusivity are reliable structural markers of functionally efficient myelination in infants.
DTI provides non-invasive insights into the functional development of the infant brain.
The findings suggest distinct temporal patterns of myelination in different parts of the visual pathway.